Hedge Funds Are Bearish On Golar LNG Partners LP (GMLP)

Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP) was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. GMLP investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with GMLP holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

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Equally as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of stimuli for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a look at the key action encompassing Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP).

Hedge fund activity in Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP)

Heading into Q2, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Fortress Investment Group, managed by Michael Novogratz, holds the biggest position in Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP). Fortress Investment Group has a $13.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by White Elm Capital, managed by Matthew Iorio, which held a $12.5 million position; 2.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital, Gregg J. Powers’s Private Capital Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Seeing as Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that elected to cut their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we watch, worth about $6.2 million in stock. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Insider trading activity in Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP). These stocks are Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW), Teekay Corporation (NYSE:TK), Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (NYSE:TOO), Seacor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CKH), and Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE:SFL). This group of stocks belong to the shipping industry and their market caps are closest to GMLP’s market cap.

With the returns exhibited by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP) is no exception.

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